Do extracurriculars have to be 'organized'?

[makushin]

I wasn't involved in a lot of school activities in college except 1 year of hockey, as I was pretty non-traditional. I've been involved with things outside of school such as rock climbing, ice climbing etc. But these things are not part of any organization. Do they want to hear about any of this sort of stuff in 'extracurriculars'? It just seems ridiculous, because I've always been an active person, but just not with my campus.

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[pts218]

I wasn't involved in a lot of school activities in college except 1 year of hockey, as I was pretty non-traditional. I've been involved with things outside of school such as rock climbing, ice climbing etc. But these things are not part of any organization. Do they want to hear about any of this sort of stuff in 'extracurriculars'? It just seems ridiculous, because I've always been an active person, but just not with my campus.

I would go ahead and list them if these are activities that you were actively involved with. I think everything is pretty much fair game to list on your application if you think it can help you to stand out, just be prepared to discuss your love of rock climbing during the interview. I had a buddy of mine state how he played the piano to show off his manual dexterity skills; he was hard pressed about how much he really played during an interview and eventually admitted he hadn't played in years.

Needless to say he did not get into that school.

 

[Snahster]

I wasn't involved in a lot of school activities in college except 1 year of hockey, as I was pretty non-traditional. I've been involved with things outside of school such as rock climbing, ice climbing etc. But these things are not part of any organization. Do they want to hear about any of this sort of stuff in 'extracurriculars'? It just seems ridiculous, because I've always been an active person, but just not with my campus.

They want to hear about extracirriculars, not hobbies. Although you may want to indicate your athletic interests in your personal statement.

 

[dental0903]

I have a somewhat similar situation to you because I have a lot of athletic activities that I participate in that aren't part of a "club" or "group". I listed them under EC because they are things that I do that are really important to me and that are as time consuming and demanding as many clubs. I would say to definitely list anything that you do on a regular basis because as long as you are prepared to talk about the commitment and time you put into those activities, I don't think that Adcoms can hold it against you that you are doing something that you are passionate about that isn't part of an organized group. Just my 2 cents though, others may disagree.

 

[Montserrat]

I have a somewhat similar situation to you because I have a lot of athletic activities that I participate in that aren't part of a "club" or "group". I listed them under EC because they are things that I do that are really important to me and that are as time consuming and demanding as many clubs. I would say to definitely list anything that you do on a regular basis because as long as you are prepared to talk about the commitment and time you put into those activities, I don't think that Adcoms can hold it against you that you are doing something that you are passionate about that isn't part of an organized group. Just my 2 cents though, others may disagree.

Just list it under the section, "Background Information", under manual dexterity and hand eye coordination type exercises. I don't think it belongs in extracurriculars, no matter how strongly you feel about it. I've been rock climbing for 8.5 years, and had ample opportunity to share my experiences in my personal statement, so I think that's the spot for it.

If you feel that strongly about it and write about it in your statement, just know you've opened the bag. I don't think they will scan your fingers to check for tendon thickness, but they might ask you to tie a double bowline, klemheist knot, roll up your sleeves for the forearm scars, calluses, and maybe the occasional micro-crimp on a doorway.

 

[bennijai]

for manual dexterity i listed all the casual stuff such as sculpting and arts and crafts, but i threw in video games too!!! lol